I wish to thank the 15 or so (!) respondents who had given of their
time with thoughtful ideas about my call for help regarding my Ranger AM
signal which had begun to generate the additional annoying bonus of a
concurrent FSK-like "RTTY" signal (only on 80M, not 40 or above). That
Ranger had been (mostly) recapped, and the problematic resistor in the
hot VFO enclosure had already been taken care of. So had some old,
sloppy mechanical and solder issues.
Turned out to be C15, a fixed frequency cap in the tuned tank
circuit inside the VFO. It was an original 1000pf postage-stamp mica.
We're replacing it with a modern-day silver mica. It had become a nice
resistor, with 16K measured across it. We will also replace it's
neighbor, C14, for the higher band(s).
Signal now is clean as well as the "Zero" heard on nearby receiver,
used to spot the net frequency.
I learned alot. Special thanks go to W6JZR, W7MS, W5MAZ, W8KGI,
W9FM, and WQ8U, who targeted the problem component, and to the local
3.870 "Early-Bird" net gang here in No. California. Thanks again to all
those who responded with good help.
(((((73)))))
Les